You thought you were imagining things. The air conditioner was cooling five minutes ago, yet now it shut off and kicked right back on. You’ve wasted enough time monitoring it to know it’s real. Your air conditioner keeps turning on and off repeatedly. Of course, it’s hot as heck outside, and you need your air conditioning running!

There are many reasons this could happen to you; listed below are problems and potential solutions. Some will be simple things you can correct, but unfortunately, others will require you to call a technician.

Why Does Your Air Conditioner Keep Turning on And Off Repeatedly?

Before we get into the reasons your air conditioner keeps turning off and on. It’s crucial to understand that your AC turning on and off is just a symptom of a problem. The real issue is something called short cycling.

What Causes Short Cycling?

Essentially, short cycling means your furnace or air conditioner turns on and off more often than it should. Your air conditioner should run for about 15 to 20 minutes and consider normal if it’s doing this. That’s your AC running. If your air conditioner is short cycling, then it could be turning on and off every five minutes.

Short cycling forces your air conditioner to work harder and could eventually kill your compressor.

Below we will discuss some reasons that can cause your air conditioner to short cycle. As well as reasons not related to short cycling but can turn your air conditioner on and off:

Reasons Your AC Keeps Turning On and Off

• Improper thermostat location
• Bad thermostat
• Dirty air filters
• Other reasons for airflow problems
• Leak refrigerant
• AC unit is too big

Improper Thermostat Location

Your thermostat should be located in the best spot. Your thermostat talks to your air conditioner or furnace and tells it when to turn on or off.

When your HVAC equipment was installed in your home, your technician should have placed your thermostat in the ideal place. It should not be near return air vents, in direct sunlight, or right next to appliances that produce heat or cold air.

Your thermostat could be tricked into thinking it needs to turn your equipment off or on when it should stay the way it is.

Solution: If you moved your thermostat or recently had one installed where it wasn’t supposed to go. Move it to the correct location. If that’s not your problem, then try moving things around that might be affecting your thermostat from doing its job.

Bad thermostat

Believe it or not, but everything fails eventually. Your thermostat is no different if it fails this could be what is causing your air conditioner to turn on and off.

Solution: There are some things you can check. First, if you have a thermostat that uses batteries ensure they are still good. You can use a volt meter to ensure they aren’t reading as good when they seem like they are. Many times, batteries can have some power and show as if they’re working but not enough power to operate your thermostat.

Your thermostat may have a fuse as well. Take the thermostat out of the wall and check if the fuse is blown. Buy and new fuse and install it if necessary.

One last way to check if your thermostat is bad is to tape a thermometer on your wall near your thermostat. Let it run for about 5 minutes and see if the temperature matches what your thermostat is reading. If they’re off it might be time to invest in a new thermostat.

Dirty Air Filters

Air filters are the most common culprit for your air conditioner turning on and off. If your air filter is dirty enough it can cause your air conditioner to shut off from not being able to pull enough air through your system.

Solution: Clean or replace your air filters.

Other reasons for airflow problems

Airflow problems can be caused by many things. Return and supply vents should be clear of anything. Most of the time the dirty filters we mentioned above are the number one cause of airflow problems. However, here are some other things that can cause your airflow to be insufficient.

Make sure your vents are clear. Again, this is for both your return vents and supply vents. Your vents should never be covered by furniture or closed all the way.

A dirty air filter will also affect your blower motor. If your air filter has been dirty for a while. It could be causing your fan to work incorrectly.

Lastly, leaky ducts can cause poor airflow.

Leak refrigerant

Refrigerant leak issues can be tricky. If your air conditioner’s evaporator coil has low refrigerant. It won’t be able to grab as much heat from your home.

However, if the refrigerant level is low there will be a drop in pressure. When this happens your compressor won’t operate correctly. Many compressors have what’s called a low-pressure monitor if pressure gets too low. It will turn your compressor off allowing the pressure to build back up. Once the pressure has built up enough it will turn your compressor back on. This could cause your air conditioner to turn on and off over and over.

Solution: This will have to be corrected by a trained technician. As refrigerant can be very harmful to you.

Air conditioner is too big

Did you know that air conditioners measured for your home? They are measured to fit your home based on the local climate and cubic size of the space in your home along with some other variables.

Solution: There is a way to correct this problem without buying a new air conditioner. Since your air conditioner is too big what you can do is lower the fan speed. This will decrease your air conditioners BTU rating just a little and allow more humidity to be pulled from the air. Since your fan is running slower the air will be conditioned longer giving it more time to grab humidity.

Summing Up Your AC Cycling Problem

As you can see many different things can cause your air conditioner to turn on and off. Some of the reasons above are inexpensive fixes. However, we did list some that will cost you.

Here is a quick recap of things to look at:

• Improper thermostat location
• Bad thermostat
• Dirty air filters
• Refrigerant leak
• AC unit is too big

We hope the issue you are having with your AC is something small that you can quickly fix. If you don’t understand any of the above mentioned. Check out some of our other related posts for more information.